On the East End, fluking continues to provide solid action with good numbers of quality fish along with plenty of shorts to keep rods bending. In the rips, big blues have made their presence felt and bass fishing has been decent at night on live eels. The best of the striper action has been across the way at Block Island where some very impressive scores have been made. Green bonito provided a couple of very good innings on Montauk’s south side, and at the mouth of the harbor where speedsters in the 2 to 5-pound class entertained boaters and those on the jetties Friday. Sea bass and porgies remain a constant with limit catches still common on many trips. Bass fishing in the Race and Plum Gut saw definite improvement on the moon, with huge blues butting in on the action at times.
Along the South Shore, fluke fishing in the ocean continues to improve with more quality fish reported this week. The bigger fish are hanging under schools of squid. Find them and you should connect with some good size flatties. Inside Moriches and Great South Bay, shorts continue to dominate but some fish in the 4 to 7-pound range have been scattered among them on the last of the flood. Blues from 3 to 4 pounds settled into both inlets late in the week, replacing cocktails that barely hit the 1-pound mark.
Further west, fluke fishing was much improved with a lot of quality fish from 6 to 10 pounds hitting the decks of boats working the ocean at the McAllister Grounds, Hempstead Reef, The Tankers and the Atlantic Beach Reef. Better quality fluke were also reported from the waters around the Meadowbrook and Wantagh Bridges on the incoming tide. Good catches of sea bass made up of shorts and keepers at Cholera, the McAllister Grounds, Rockaway Reef and the AB Reef. Further west at Rockaway Inlet, anglers are seeing the best bonito run in years, with some Spanish mackerel in the mix. The best of the action has been taking place at dawn. Good numbers of small to medium blues and lots of porgies are keeping the party boat crowd happy.
Up on the North Shore, porgies continue to steal the show in places like Glen Island, Mamaroneck, Orchard Beach, Little Neck, Cranes Neck Point, Matinecock Point and the Middle Grounds. Fluking is up in some areas down in others, but shorts far outnumber keepers wherever you go. Some bigger fish were found this week in Manhasset Bay, the Triangle and buoy 15. Bluefish finally made an appearances in a few areas such as the Middle Grounds, Huntington Harbor and some North Shore beaches. Best bet for a decent striper has been the Middle Grounds on trolled tubes or bunker chunks.
On the docks, snappers are now a catchable size and around in good numbers. Lots of good reports concerning blue claw crabs filtering in from many of the mainland docks along the South Shore. Blowfish also adding to the fun in some areas.
In the surf, the best bet for consistent bass and especially bluefish action remains the East End, particularly Montauk and the North Fork, with Shinnecock and Moriches also a possibility.
Offshore, the jig bite for bluefin tuna south of the Coimbra remains strong, but have chunks and live bait on the ready just in case. Mahi seem to be everywhere. Lots of yellowfin at the edge, and nighttime chunking has produced an impressive number of swordfish. Shark fishing remains very good, especially to the east.
